A's swept - still no solution for Verlander, Detroit

Updated 11:33 pm, Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Detroit -- His team flagging a bit in the last set of a three-city trip - and with the A's facing their kryptonite, Justin Verlander - manager Bob Melvin decided to shake up the lineup a little.

Out for just the second time all year was third baseman and presumptive All-Star Josh Donaldson. In at first base, against a right-hander, was Nate Freiman, usually a strict platoon player against lefties only.

Still, even after jumping out to an early lead, the A's couldn't master Verlander. Coco Crisp and Brandon Moss homered in the first inning, but that was basically it. The Tigers, the AL Central leaders, went on to blast Oakland 9-3, punctuating their recent edge over the A's, which includes first-round playoff wins each of the past two years.

"That wasn't a very good series for us," Melvin said. "Getting swept didn't feel very good."

As Melvin noted, the A's had been a run or two away from sweeping a four-game series at Detroit last season, so "they just turned the tables on us this year. I hope we do get to play them again."

"It just so happened that we were hot this series," Verlander said. "I think a lot of it has to do with Rajai (Davis), the first game, with the grand slam walk-off, that put us in the driver's seat, and we took off from there."

Oakland was swept for just the third time this season, and the first time since dropping a three-game set at Toronto in May. The Blue Jays, the top team in the AL East, now arrive at the Coliseum for a four-game series starting Thursday night.

The A's still have the best record in the league at 51-33, but the Angels are sneaking up on them in the division, standing three back going into their game Wednesday evening.

Crisp reprised his leadoff homer off Verlander in the 2012 ALDS, and Moss hit a two-strike, two-out homer, his 19th of the season.

The A's threatened again. In the third, they loaded the bases with two outs but came up empty. In the sixth, they put two on with no outs, but Stephen Vogt popped up, Jed Lowrie flied out to shallow center and, after Freiman was hit by a pitch, Nick Punto flied out to shallow right to leave the bases loaded.

"We're trying to get the ball in the air and got it in the air, just not far enough," Melvin said. "That inning was the key to the game."

Verlander, who has allowed the A's a total of one run over his past four playoff starts against them, went six innings and allowed nine hits and two runs while striking out four.

"It's definitely weird to see him pitching in the upper 80s and low 90s when you're used to 97 at your hands," catcher Derek Norris said of Verlander's velocity dip this year. "But MVP, Cy Youngs ... he's still going to be tough."

A's starter Jesse Chavez allowed runs in the first and third, both on two-out singles by Torii Hunter. He gave up an RBI single to Austin Jackson in the fourth and two more runs in the sixth; both of those runs scored after Chavez had exited and Jim Johnson had taken over.

Chavez said he does not want to get frustrated after allowing nine runs over his past two outings. "I've been down that road before," he said.

Johnson gave up four consecutive hits, including a two-run double by Miguel Cabrera, and he was charged with four runs. His ERA stands at 5.94.

"He's been thrown into some tough situations," Norris said, "but we're still looking for this guy to be a force for us down the stretch."

Ryan Cook succeeded Johnson and allowed Hunter's third RBI single of the game.

"He's always an annoyance," Norris said of Hunter. "I don't know what it is, but he always has the knack for a big hit against us."

Moss provided his career-high tying fourth hit of the game, and second RBI, in the seventh when his two-out single sent in Crisp.